Can somebody shake their own head violently enough to give themselves a concussion

June 29, 2010 10:32 AM

Can somebody shake their own head violently enough to give themselves a concussion? For instance, say somebody finishes a shower and shakes their head vigorously like a big dog to throw off excess water. Could that person give themselves a concussion? If they could, how easy/likely would that be, and has it ever happened before?
posted by willnot to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

Headbanging ? Not concussion but a stroke apparently.
posted by selton at 10:42 AM on June 29, 2010

Concussion as a term is not terribly well-defined. But yes, there is evidence you can cause injury to yourself through severe and repeated head motions. To second selton, here's one of the most entertaining articles on brain injury I've ever read.
posted by dephlogisticated at 11:05 AM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

As with the two above, I'd be more worried about the neck, and more specifically damage to the vertebral artery. From that article: "The typical presentation of vertebral artery dissection (VAD) is a young person with severe occipital headache and posterior nuchal pain following a recent, relatively minor, head or neck injury. The trauma is generally from a trivial mechanism but is associated with some degree of cervical distortion"
posted by Coobeastie at 12:08 PM on June 29, 2010

People sustain encephalopathy through coughing.
posted by b33j at 12:22 PM on June 29, 2010